Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 500: Marquis Mansion Tradition

"If we want to build a brick kiln, the best locations are here, here, and here. The clay on these three mountains is suitable for making green bricks. And there are many trees on the mountains that are suitable for making firewood."

Pei Jingyang pointed to several locations on the map and said, "The other mountains either have unsuitable soil or insufficient firewood."

"If you want to open a lumber mill, you'd better choose this place. The wood on this mountain is suitable for building houses. It is suitable for making beams, rafters, purlins, wooden windows and the like." Pei Jingyang said like he knew them all.

Mobei is so big, how can you remember what kind of soil and trees are on which mountain? Hualei was very surprised.

Seeing Hua Lei's surprised expression, Pei Jingyang smiled proudly, pointed to his head, and boasted, "Lei'er, this is very useful. As long as I have seen something and walked a path, I can remember it."

Hualei gave a thumbs up and praised generously, "Father, you are amazing. Your memory is like a living geographical gazetteer. Do you never get lost?"

"Of course." Pei Jingyang seemed even more proud.

Rong Jin looked at his father, a little speechless, and deliberately asked, "Father, do you know the birthdays of the four of us siblings?"

"Um, Ruyi is... November, no, it's December, the second of December? The third of December? Yes, the third of December. Agate is... I remember it seemed to be in summer..." Pei Jingyang touched his chin and frowned.

"Didn't you say that this is very useful? You can remember everything?" Rong Jin pointed to his head.

"You little bastard, you're so sissy, why do you remember my birthday? It's not your birthday." Pei Jingyang was very angry when he saw Rong Jin who was bringing bad luck to him.

This brat had no manners to eat the sea cucumber tonic that his wife had prepared for him this morning. Now he has no manners to expose his shortcomings in front of his new daughter-in-law.

"Actually, father is really amazing. I once read in a book that everyone is good at different things." Seeing that Pei Jingyang was a little embarrassed, Hua Lei hurried to help set up the ladder.

"The book says that some people are particularly eloquent and good at debate, and they can write articles in one go without any hesitation. This is called linguistic intelligence.

Some people are particularly good at music. No matter what song or instrument it is, they can learn it quickly and understand it immediately. This is musical intelligence.

People like my father have a very strong sense of direction. They will never forget the road they have walked and can remember everything that is along the road. This is a sign of being particularly good at spatial intelligence.

My father is physically skilled and has quick reflexes, which means he is also good at physical intelligence.

Moreover, I also heard from my grandfather that when my father was fighting against the enemy, he was often able to predict the enemy's plan and could draw inferences from one instance to another and figure out the logical relationships behind many things. That means he was good at reasoning, which means that my father was also good at arithmetic intelligence.

In general, there are eight intelligences in total, and my father has three of them, which is really amazing. Many people are not good at any of them.”

Hua Lei said with a smile that in order to repay Pei Jingyang's protection in the morning, Hua Lei racked her brains and brought out the knowledge she had learned in her previous life.

"That's right, Lei'er is smart, she knows everything and speaks nicely. Unlike you, a bad boy, who only knows how to make people angry."

Pei Jingyang took advantage of the situation and said to Hua Lei with a smile, "Lei'er, I'm actually pretty good at music, and I'm also pretty good at writing."

Hualei couldn't help but laugh. She didn't expect that Pei Jingyang, who she thought was a big man, had such a cute and funny side. He kept saying nice things.

"Yes, father, I think you are omnipotent and outstanding in every aspect. It is said that a son resembles his father. My husband is so outstanding because he inherited your excellent genes. He is like you."

Pei Jingyang was even happier after being praised by Hua Lei. While he was happy, he looked at his son with disdain and said, "This kid is much worse than me. His skills are far inferior to mine."

The despised Rong Jin looked at his father and said slowly, "My grandfather said the same thing. He also said that you are not as good as him." Rong Jin pointed to his head again.

"Then you are not as good as me here." Pei Jingyang raised his chin and counterattacked quickly. Looking at the bickering father and son, Hua Lei couldn't help but smile.

It seems that in the Marquis's Mansion, it is a tradition that the father dislikes his son and the son disobeys the father.

"Father, you can handle the matters of the brick kiln and the lumber mill. After all, this is the private matter of the Marquis' Mansion. In fact, I have another suggestion."

Seeing that the father and son were endlessly disliking each other, Hua Lei chuckled and quietly interrupted the bickering father and son.

"Oh, what is it? Tell me about it." Pei Jingyang turned around and asked with a smile.

"Father, I've noticed that the amount of supplies needed by Mobei has been slowly increasing in the past two years. Have you ever thought about establishing farmland and raising soldiers?" Hua Lei asked in a low voice.

Both father and son's faces straightened at the same time.

"Lei'er, this... this is inappropriate! There is no such precedent." Pei Jingyang looked at Hua Lei and said cautiously.

"Father, I think you can consider this. This is not treason, it's a good thing. Think about it, since the great victory in Mobei, the border line has been pushed northward a lot, so is the length longer?

Are more soldiers needed for patrol? Are more military pay and supplies needed?

However, in the next few years, not to mention ten or twenty years, but at least in the next seven or eight years, the border should be relatively peaceful and there will be no war, right?

So, do you think that the imperial court can pay so much military salary to support a group of soldiers who don't need to go to the battlefield? Would it be okay for one or two years, five or six years, or even eight or ten years?

There may be no problem in His Majesty's hands, so will there be no problem in the future?" Hua Lei looked at Pei Jingyang and asked softly, the meaning of which was self-evident.

If Emperor Shengwu passed away, it is hard to say what would happen if his son succeeded to the throne. Hualei had seen many cases of "the bow is put away after the bird is dead, and the dog is cooked after the rabbit is dead" in history books.

"Father, when the land is distributed in Mobei Prefecture, you can propose to the court in the name of the army to allocate some land to the military camps for the soldiers to plant. This is actually the same as allocating land to the people for planting.

The military camps can pay the same amount of taxes as the civilians, and the rest will be used as subsidies for the soldiers. Then the military salaries will be paid normally. This is one method.

Or they could take the initiative to propose a 10% or 20% reduction in military pay. Then the income from the military camp fields would not need to be taxed, and it could be used to subsidize military pay. This is also a method," Hua Lei explained.